Emotional Regulation | Moody Melon Magazine

Building Bridges After the Break: How DBT Supports PTSD Recovery

Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
May 29

DBT supports PTSD recovery by helping individuals regulate overwhelming emotions, tolerate distress safely, and rebuild a sense of self that trauma often fractures. Through skills like mindfulness and emotional regulation, DBT supports PTSD recovery not just by managing symptoms, but by empowering survivors to reclaim their lives with resilience and self-compassion.

Building Bridges After the Break: How DBT Supports PTSD Recovery

When we think of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), images of flashbacks, anxiety, and emotional flooding often come to mind. But beneath the surface of these symptoms lies a deeper struggle: the feeling that your inner world is unmanageable, unsafe, or disconnected from who you once were. For many, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers not just coping skills—but a compassionate map back to themselves.

Originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder and chronic suicidality, DBT has become a lifeline for many living with PTSD. Why? Because DBT doesn’t just treat symptoms—it teaches people how to navigate the emotional storms trauma leaves behind.

Click to Learn About The Silent Toll of Secondary PTSD

The Four Pillars of Healing

At the heart of DBT are four core skill areas: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. For trauma survivors, these aren't just therapeutic tools—they’re survival skills reimagined.

Mindfulness helps individuals reconnect with the present moment, anchoring them during flashbacks or dissociation. Many trauma survivors feel "hijacked" by the past; mindfulness gives them back a sense of agency over their attention and body.
Distress Tolerance equips clients to ride out emotional pain without resorting to harmful coping strategies like self-harm, numbing, or avoidance. In DBT, clients learn crisis survival skills that offer real alternatives—like grounding exercises, the TIPP skill (Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, Progressive relaxation), and self-soothing.
Emotion Regulation teaches clients how to name, understand, and manage overwhelming feelings like shame, rage, or fear. Instead of being controlled by emotions that don’t make sense, clients build a toolkit for emotional clarity and balance.
Interpersonal Effectiveness helps trauma survivors relearn how to relate to others. When PTSD results from relational trauma—like abuse, betrayal, or abandonment—this skill set empowers clients to set boundaries, ask for what they need, and rebuild trust slowly and safely.

DBT Meets Trauma: What Makes It Work?

What sets DBT apart from traditional trauma therapies is its balance of acceptance and change. Many trauma survivors feel pressure to "get over it" or to always be working toward healing. DBT acknowledges that it’s okay to feel broken and want to move forward. Clients are taught how to hold two truths at once: “This pain is real, and I can still build a life worth living.”

For individuals with PTSD, particularly complex trauma or co-occurring issues like self-harm, substance use, or dissociation, DBT provides a structured, skill-focused approach that doesn't re-traumatize. Instead of diving straight into trauma narratives, DBT helps clients stabilize first—so that when trauma processing happens (often with EMDR, CPT, or prolonged exposure), the emotional foundation is stronger and safer.

When Healing Feels Possible Again

One of the most beautiful things about DBT is its validation. Survivors often hear, “What happened to you was terrible—but your reactions make sense.” In a world that may have dismissed their pain, DBT offers a new kind of truth: you are not broken beyond repair.

Whether taught in group sessions, individual therapy, or integrated with trauma-specific treatments, DBT can gently guide clients from survival to self-understanding. It's not about rushing to "fix" trauma—it's about learning to live alongside it, with dignity, skill, and hope.

Click to Learn About Supporting a Child with PTSD Starts at Home

So here’s the real question:

What if the first step in healing trauma isn’t reliving it—but learning the skills to hold your pain with compassion?

Feel It to Heal It: 4 Sensory Tools to Help Kids Feel Safe Inside

Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
May 23

Sensory tools that help kids feel safe can create calm in moments of overwhelm, offering comfort through touch, sound, smell, and movement. When used with care, they can turn scary feelings into manageable ones, giving children the power to understand and regulate their emotions.

Feel It to Heal It: 4 Sensory Tools to Help Kids Feel Safe Inside

When kids go through scary or hard things, their brains and bodies can feel like they’re always on high alert—even when nothing bad is happening. Loud noises, big feelings, or sudden changes might make them want to run, hide, or explode. That’s not bad behavior—it’s the body trying to protect itself.

The good news? There are ways to help kids feel safer, calmer, and more in control. These simple sensory tools don’t just make kids “behave”—they help them heal.

Click to Learn About Understanding the Impact of Domestic Violence on Kids

Here are four kid-friendly strategies that use the five senses to build comfort, calm, and confidence:

1. Peel the Anger Onion

Anger is like an onion—it has layers. When kids feel mad, they might also be feeling hurt, scared, or left out underneath. Drawing or imagining an “anger onion” helps them explore what’s hiding inside their big feelings.

Try this: Draw an onion with layers labeled: "mad," "frustrated," "sad," "scared," "lonely," etc. When a child is upset, sit together and gently ask: What’s under your mad today? Let them color or point to how they feel. This helps them name their emotions—and naming them is the first step to calming them.

2. Make a Worry Box

Kids with trauma often hold a lot of worries inside. A Worry Box is a safe place where they can “put away” those fears for a little while. It teaches them that worries don’t have to stay stuck in their heads.

Try this: Let the child decorate a small box or jar. When a worry pops up, they can write it down (or draw it) and put it inside. You might say: We can visit those worries later, but for now, they’re safe in the box. Over time, this gives kids power over their thoughts—and shows them they don’t have to carry everything alone.

3. Collect a Calming or Bored Bag

Some kids need extra comfort when they’re bored, waiting, or feeling “too much.” A calming bag filled with sensory tools can help them settle, fidget safely, or just feel okay when things around them don’t.

Try this: Use a lunchbox or pencil case and fill it with cozy or fun items: a soft fabric scrap, a squishy toy, a fidget spinner, noise-canceling headphones, a feather, a scented sticker, or a mini picture book. Invite them to use it whenever their body feels buzzy, bored, or blah.

4. Belly Breathing: Your Superpower Tool

Belly breathing is like a superhero move for your nervous system. It helps kids feel calmer from the inside out—especially when they’ve learned the world isn’t always safe.

Try this: Have the child lie down with a stuffed animal on their belly. As they breathe in slowly through their nose, the stuffed animal rises. As they breathe out through their mouth, it falls. You can say, Let’s help your teddy go on a little ride. Just one minute of this can help slow their heart rate and make their brain feel safer.

These sensory tools help kids feel like they matter—and that their feelings make sense. For children with trauma, they’re not just calming tricks—they’re invitations to feel safe, seen, and supported.

Click to Learn About How Parental Modeling Shapes Emotion Regulation in Children

Now ask them (or yourself):

If your feelings could talk, what would they ask you to do to help them feel safe today?

Unlocking the Body's Wisdom: How Somatic Therapy Can Heal the Mind

Julie Barris | Crisis Counselor | Therapist-in-Training
Mar 11

Somatic therapy can heal the mind by addressing the physical manifestations of emotional trauma, creating a deeper sense of well-being. By reconnecting with the body, somatic therapy can heal the mind, helping individuals release trapped emotions and find lasting relief from stress and anxiety.

Unlocking the Body's Wisdom: How Somatic Therapy Can Heal the Mind

When we experience emotional pain or trauma, it's easy to think of it solely as something that affects our thoughts and feelings. But what if the body also holds the key to healing? Somatic therapy, an emerging therapeutic approach, challenges the conventional idea that the mind and body are separate entities. Instead, it acknowledges that emotional and psychological experiences are not only processed in the brain but also stored within our physical bodies.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy, also known as somatic experiencing, is a form of body-centered psychotherapy that focuses on the connection between the mind and body. It is based on the understanding that trauma, stress, and emotional experiences can become trapped in the body and affect both physical and mental health.

This approach draws from both traditional talk therapy and techniques that encourage mindfulness, breathing, movement, and other body-based practices. By tuning into physical sensations, clients are guided to release held tension, process emotional responses, and move toward healing in a holistic way.

The Mind-Body Connection

We’ve all heard the saying, "Trust your gut" or "Listen to your body." These phrases are more than just metaphors; they’re an invitation to recognize how deeply our emotions are intertwined with our physical state. When we experience stress, for example, our bodies often react with tension, shallow breathing, or even pain. Likewise, when we’re anxious, it’s common to feel a tightness in the chest or an upset stomach. These physical manifestations are the body’s way of signaling that something needs attention.

Somatic therapy takes this concept a step further by helping individuals identify and release the physical manifestations of their emotional experiences. Through techniques like breathwork, body scanning, and gentle movement, clients are encouraged to become more aware of how their body reacts to stress or trauma. This awareness can create space for healing, as the body’s energy can begin to flow freely once blocked emotions are released.

The Role of Trauma in the Body

Trauma, whether physical, emotional, or psychological, doesn’t just reside in our memories; it can become stored in our muscles, organs, and tissues. These “somatic memories” can lead to chronic pain, illness, or even mental health issues such as anxiety or depression. The physical body, over time, may carry the imprint of past experiences that are never fully processed or expressed.

Somatic therapy helps people reconnect with their bodies, which can be crucial for releasing long-held trauma. By safely revisiting these past experiences and releasing trapped energy, individuals can achieve lasting emotional and physical relief.

Benefits of Somatic Therapy

Trauma Healing: Somatic therapy offers a gentle way to process trauma by reconnecting the body with the mind. It allows individuals to release stored trauma safely, without the need to relive or retell every detail of their painful memories.
Stress Reduction: Techniques like deep breathing, mindfulness, and movement can help reduce the effects of stress by encouraging relaxation and helping individuals cope with daily stressors in a healthier way.
Chronic Pain Relief: Somatic therapy can also benefit those with chronic pain. Many people suffering from unexplained pain find that somatic therapy helps release tension and emotional blockages, leading to relief.
Improved Emotional Regulation: This form of therapy helps individuals develop greater awareness of their emotional triggers and responses, enabling them to regulate their emotions more effectively.
Enhanced Body Awareness: Through somatic therapy, individuals develop a greater awareness of how their bodies react to emotional stimuli. This can lead to healthier coping mechanisms and better overall well-being.

How Somatic Therapy Works

In a typical session, a somatic therapist guides the client through mindfulness exercises that focus on noticing physical sensations. Clients might be asked to identify areas of tension, discomfort, or pain in their bodies and then gently explore those sensations through breathing exercises or movement.

The therapist may use techniques such as:

Breathing exercises: To help the body relax and release stress.
Body scanning: To bring awareness to different parts of the body and identify areas of tension.
Movement: Encouraging clients to move in a way that feels natural to release blocked energy.
Touch: In some cases, touch can be used (with consent) to help ground the individual and facilitate emotional release.

Sessions are typically slow-paced and focused on creating a safe and supportive environment, where clients can explore and process their emotions in a non-verbal way.

Is Somatic Therapy Right for You?

Somatic therapy is especially effective for those who feel disconnected from their bodies or have trouble expressing their emotions verbally. It's also a powerful tool for individuals who have experienced trauma or have chronic stress-related conditions.

If you find that traditional talk therapy isn’t fully addressing your emotional or physical concerns, somatic therapy may provide the deeper healing that you're looking for. It complements other therapeutic approaches by addressing the mind-body connection in a holistic way.

Final Thoughts

Somatic therapy reminds us that the body holds wisdom beyond what we can often express through words. By reconnecting with our physical selves, we open the door to healing not just our minds, but our entire being. If we begin to listen to the messages our bodies are sending, we may unlock the potential for profound growth, release, and transformation.

So, what if the answer to healing is already within you, waiting to be felt?

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